What is a trade count?
A trade is one completed round trip by a rule that enters and exits a position. A rebalance is a scheduled date on which a portfolio rule re-ranks and held at least one position. It is the sample size for portfolio rules. A holdings change is a rebalance where what the portfolio held, or its weights, differed from the previous one. Only these cost money to trade.
How does a trade count work?
A rule that enters and exits a position (a moving-average cross, say) is counted in trades. A rule that re-ranks a basket of assets on a schedule is counted in rebalances, and in holdings changes for the dates when the basket actually moved. A portfolio rule usually shows more rebalances than holdings changes: both numbers are true, they count different things. Every result on Tickfloor says which unit it uses, and the counts come straight from the stored backtest output.
What can't a trade count tell you?
None of the three is a count of independent bets. Daily returns and holding periods overlap, so the effective sample is smaller than any of these numbers, and a large count does not make a result reliable.
How does Tickfloor use a trade count?
The evidence summary and the research pages label each sample as trades, rebalances or holdings changes, and the "too few trades" label uses trades for signal rules and rebalances for portfolio rules.
Why does this matter when reading research results?
This is a way of judging evidence, not a trading rule, so there is no strategy to score. It shapes how every result in the research should be read.
General information only. It doesn't consider your objectives, finances or needs. Tickfloor holds no financial services licence and never places trades.